Dreamweaver CS4 Beta 1 - Now available for free download!

I kinda fell like it sneak upon me - not so long ago I was reporting on my blog about CS3 beta's, and here I am, writing about Dreamweaver CS4 beta 1 available for (free!) download.
It's a trial that you can use for two days to preview new available tools and workspace in application. Two days suck, I know, but look at the bright side: if you have previous version of Dreamweaver you can use your serial number to make beta last longer (through entire beta process).

"Stop talking already and show us the screens!"

Ok, this is how the application looks like now:


Some changes are expected, it's beta 1 stage only, but we can get the whole idea. Here are most noticeable changes:
1. Screen real estate is much better used - small changes allowed Dreamweaver CS4 to give us bigger website preview/code view.
2. Mac colored workspace - I'm not sure how I feel about it at this stage. If I'd want to have Mac I'd get one :)
3. Insert bar now as a panel - very good, more space for the code and preview editor
4. Windows application bar at the top gone - very good, close buttons are available on menu bar, so we get more workspace and loose... nothing (how about doing so in all windows applications?)
5. Workspace switcher now in menu bar

Some closeups:







What does Adobe says top new features are?

• Live View
• Related Files
• Code Navigator
• CSS best practices
• Code hinting for Ajax and JavaScript frameworks
• HTML data sets
• Photoshop Smart Objects
• Subversion integration
• Adobe® AIR™ authoring support
• New user interface

List of top new Dreamweaver CS4 features with explanations.


What are you still doing here? Be first one to grab it!
(While you're at it, don't forget to check out other available CS4 free downloads: Fireworks CS4 Beta 1, Soundbooth CS4 Beta 1)

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 public beta - already?

It seems like not so long ago I have been reporting about Lightroom 1 beta, and here I am writing about Lightroom 2 beta! That's right, today Adobe released via Adobe Labs public beta of Lightroom 2!

You can grab it here: Adobe Lightroom download.



It's an early beta, so things are pretty slow, but it's great being able to use software of tomorrow today :)
I encourage you to check it out - here's the release note (pdf), but if you want just the juice, read this post from Adobe Lightroom Team. You can also get up to speed by watching Julieanne's video tutorial.

I thought Live Trace in Adobe Illustrator CS3 was amazing.

There are a few paths you can follow to trace raster image into its vector equivalent. The best known are Live Trace in Adobe Illustrator, and Corel Trace.
What are their disadvantages? They are rather expensive, for one. And the results they are producing are good, but certainly we could use something better.

Ladies and gentleman, say hello to Vector Magic.



It's essentially an online application, that will take your raster image and vectorize (aka trace) it.
The quality of the conversion is stunning. You can also see comparison of the results from various tracing programs and Vector Magic.

Below you can see image before and after vectorization:



Here's the best part: it's a free software. You don't even have to download it or install. It only requires Flash enabled browser (the tool is created in Adobe Flex) and an image you want to convert!

"Heaven is here" you may want to say. We're not quite there yet - they still need to add recognizing gradients feature :)

However, the tool is great even as it is. And judging by the update dates we will definately see some fast progress    :)

UPDATE: As "Anonymous" pointed out, the service is not free anymore :(

Thank you, Anonymous :)

Beauty in application interface - not Mac exclusive

For years what I have heard was: "I prefer Mac from PC because Mac applications are beautiful".

However, for some time I can see that PC applications are not far behind, if at all. And a lot of credit can go to Adobe - especially Production Studio amazes me. Have you for example seen After Effects 7 or CS3? It is fun to spend time in AE just because of its interface. Everytime it launches I feel like entering some secret place, where I can do magic noone else can.

In this post I would like point at another Adobe application that gives us beautiful workspace: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.



This is only a part of the interface, but still it is easy to see how well it works with images, no matter what colours they have. Everything is simple and easy to read. It is another evidence that beautifull design can be really, really simple.



They even included a very aesthetic pattern ornament. Take a look at knobes and sliders... We gotta get more of those :D

Designer's life is now even cooler

Most of you probably already know Adobe's online software Kuler. It can be used to easily create, save, share and export colour schemes. Exported schemes are importable for applications in Adobe Creative Suite 2 and 3.

Here's what Adobe Kuler looks like:


You can use this free software at http://kuler.adobe.com

But why am I mentioning it right now? Kuler is old news...
It's because Adobe released updated version of Kuler's desktop AIP that now works with Adobe AIR Beta 3 (formely Apollo). You can download it from Adobe Labs. Don't forget to install Adobe AIR first :)

After you install and run it, take some time to admire how dark and pretty it looks :D



Then, you will probably feel dissapointed because you cannot create new sets in it, only browse through those already published.

But fear not! Adobe has found the way to swetten things.
Go to Adobe Illustrator, choose Window -> Adobe Labs -> kuler, and you will find yourself enjoying kuler panel:

Isn't it kul? :)